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Canterbury franchise hope for final end to Super crusade

Geoffrey Riddle

July 5 2011, 5:37pm, The Times

The Crusaders hope to cap a stunning season this Saturday by beating the Reds in the final of the Super 15David Rogers/Getty Images

Triumph in adversity is something that is attributed all too often to sports teams, but if the Canterbury Crusaders can win their eighth Super rugby title this Saturday by beating the Reds in Brisbane it will cap one of the most spectacular achievements in team sport.

On February 22, Christchurch was hit by a devastating earthquake, which killed 181 people and caused £8 billion of damage to large swathes of the city. The Crusaders’ AMI Stadium suffered and the pitch underwent the process of liquefaction, leaving it unplayable.

So bad was the damage to the stadium, which had undergone a £30 million redevelopment for September’s World Cup, that the venue for England’s Pool B matches against Argentina and Georgia had to be moved, as did…